Atticus Finch

"Lucid, accomplished, eminently readable... Atticus Finch a blend of Southern history, literary criticism and group biography, is probably the best book about Harper Lee to come out since her death in 2016."

"Although dismaying to some Lee fans, the belated publication of "Watchman," an apprentice work containing the germ plasm of "Mockingbird," cast light on the virtues and limitations of the author and her canonical novel. It also opened the door to serious scholarship like "Atticus Finch: The Biography," Joseph Crespino's crisp, illuminating examination of Harper Lee's dueling doppelgangers and their real-life model, Lee's politician father."

"Readers interested in understanding the three different portrayals of Atticus Finch - the one found in "To Kill a Mockingbird," Gregory Peck's Atticus of the cinema, and the "warts and all" version found in Harper Lee's 2015 book, "Go Set a Watchman," will delight in this well researched backstory."

"Insightful... [a] supple and incisive portrait of A.C. Lee."

"Mr. Crespino shows a gift for copious research and nuanced interpretation. He deftly parses the region's racial attitudes into a spectrum of views that reflected varying degrees of tolerance."

"An in-depth look into the inspiration of Harper Lee's father, A.C. Lee, for the part of Atticus Finch... This will be of interest to anyone who studies Lee's work."

"Illuminating... Crespino combines the authority and command of the scholar with the grace of a storyteller, making Atticus a great read. He's crafted an earnest, lucid and concise history of the time in which the two voices of Atticus were created, and shown why they are so paradoxical."

"A fascinating, thoroughly researched new book... In nimbly navigating Harper Lee's divergent portrayals of Atticus Finch - and the complex contradictions of A.C. Lee - Crespino will send many readers back to her novels in search of further understanding."

"Crespino's scholarly and well-written history leaps to the top of the books you should read if you are a To Kill A Mockingbird devotee."

"Mr. Crespino has written a nuanced biography, one that tells the twin stories of Harper Lee's development of the character Atticus Finch and her relationship and ideological struggles with her father Amasa Coleman (A.C.) Lee, the Alabama lawyer and newspaperman, on whom Harper Lee based the fictional Atticus."

"A nuanced and captivating study of Atticus Finch.... This insightful work elucidates the literary, personal, and civil rights issues that shaped Harper Lee and her two novels."

"Besides drawing on newly available correspondence, [Crespino] examines hundreds of editorials in which A.C. expressed opinions on local and national issues to offer a nuanced portrait of a man of 'paternalistic sensibilities.' ... An informed look at Southern history refracted through the lens of fiction."

"In this fascinating book, Crespino examines Harper Lee's creation of Atticus Finch, the fictional hero based on her father, lawyer and newspaper editor A.C. Lee, and carefully traces the arc of his life as it reflected the South wrestling with the civil rights movement."

"A thoughtful, fascinating study offering fresh revelations and insights about To Kill a Mockingbird.... Atticus Finch is a valuable new key to the mystery that is Ms. Lee."

But Joe Crespino's beautiful study of Atticus Finch, in fact and fiction, also brings to life a writer, her father, and an entire people--all caught in history's clenches. It is an impressive achievement, from start to finish."

"In this brilliantly researched and beautifully written work, Joe Crespino explores the fictions of Atticus Finch to expose the facts about white southerners in the age of Jim Crow."

"In this incisive and engaging work, Joseph Crespino lets us see all the iterations of Atticus Finch--the hero of 'Mockingbird,' the villain of 'Watchman,' and, most fascinatingly, the complex, conflicted real-life inspiration for both, Harper Lee's father, Amasa Coleman Lee."

"To Kill a Mockingbird was a publishing sensation in its day, a staple of school reading lists for decades, and an enduring lens for understanding the politics of civil rights. Joe Crespino's smart and highly readable 'biography' of Atticus Finch gives us the story behind the story, from Harper Lee's family history to her emergence as a writer to her later fame. In so doing, he recaptures the lost diversity and complexity of thought and the perspectives about race and integration not just in midcentury America but within the white South itself."